The March
by speakingwordsofwisdom
Summary: Fighting against a lying goverment, Rachel and Quinn join the student demonstration...and, in the chaos, find friendship in an unlikely setting.Based on my own experience of 9/12/10. For the purpose of the story, Glee takes place in London. Mild Faberry.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Thursday 9th of December will be rememberd forever as the daythe liberal democrats officially betrayed mine and future generations. Despite promising to cut tuition fees, Nick Clegg went back on his promise, and surrenderd all power to David Cameron- a conservative.

After protests across the nation on the streets and in schools and colleges, after walk-outs and strikes and sit-ins and occupations and protests, the bill was passed in parliment.

I was at the protest march, that went across london and assembled in parliment, before the bill was passed, and it was one of the scariest, saddest, most exciting days of my life. There was much violence from both police and protestors. I'm going to send Quinn and Rachel to that protest, because conflicted times always call for a little Faberry friendship.

For the purposes of the story, its set in england, because i know very little about the US. For anyone unfamiliar with english politics, Nick Clegg leads the Liberal-democrats (i.e your left-wing, liberal, democrat party) and Cameron leads the conservatives (i.e right wing republicans).

Enjoy, and PLEASE, PLEASE review =)

In support of Alfie Meadows, who sufferd bleeding on the brain due to police violence.

Eyes fixed intently on the screen, Quinn double-clicked the "refresh" icon, and waited as the screen cleared, and then refilled itself with an identicle web page as the one before it.

Inbox: 0.

Still, _still, _no one had replied. And now, with less than eight hours to go, it looked like no one would. At another click of the mouse-pad, the message that had been sent out three days ago to fifty of Quinn's friends, via, facebook, filled the screen with colour: the large illustration of London's skyline, with "SHUT DOWN LONDON: MARCH ON DECEMBER 2010" emblazoned across it in; the small paragraph giving the date, time and aim of the protest; and then, at the bottom, the few lines Quinn had added herself before sending the message. "Guys- this will affect ALL of us! If we make enough of a stand, they can't ignore us, so come down, and make your voices heard!"- the words sounded so stupidly optimistic now.

She supposed she should really have known better: only a very few of her friends were remotely political, and while they'd all spent happy hours complaining about the goverment itself, and the cuts it seemed to be intent on introducing, it seemed that none of them actually cared enough to put any time or effort into making a difference.

Even Santana and Brittany, her two closest friends, had not replied to the invitation: Santana, only child of strictly Conservative parents, had unsurprisingly picked their views, and Brittany, sweetly loyal as she was, had absolutely no understanding of what was going on, politically, at all.

After watching angry students smashing the windows of the Conservative headquarters, and then pouring inside to occupy the building, on the news, Brittany had asked Quinn what was happening.

__

They're occupying the building, Brit.

It means they'll trash it, and hang around inside it for a few hours. Yeah, like that time at Puck's party.

Because they're angry. Because they've been lied to.

Yes, that is bad. Because Nick Clegg (yes, Britt, a politician) promised to stop charging us money to go to university, to make people vote for him. Except now he's sharing power with David Cameron (yeah, he's a politician too), and they've all decided that instead of getting rid of university fees, they'll increase them instead.

Yes, Britt, that was wrong of them. No, i'm not sure why they did it. So now the students are angry. So they're showing they're angry by protesting and breaking things, becaue now lots of people won't be able to afford to go to University at all. And, yes, it ,is all very bad.

Yes, I am angry too.

No...I didn't know that froot loops are just gay cheerios.

The effort of explaining it to Brittany was a little exhausting, but even so... Quinn would've thought that at least ONE of her friends would've been willing to come on the protest with her...

Well, screw it. Screw them and their political apathy.

She'd just go to the protest on her own.

Rachel had been going on marches for as long as she could remember. It was just what her family did. Like some children are taken to churches and temples simply because their parents believe in it, Rachel had followed her dads on every march they'd ever been on during her life, long before she was old enough to understand what they were marching for.

Mostly, they were Gay Pride, and Gay Rights, but sometimes they were political: anti-war, anti-poverty, and sometimes they weren't protests, just marches in celebration of the Jewish, Black, Gay, or artistically inclined communities (although never had any of these sectors ever actually combined their marches).

But she had never gone to any of them alone.

"Rach, I'm sorry, but we can't take the time off. Not mid-week. Next time, maybe-"

"Can't I still go?"

"Well-"

"I'm 18, Daddy! It's only London. I've been there by myself before, remember..."

"Honey, that was in the day time"

"THIS is in the day time!"

"You know these things often go on for much longer...plus, it's the middle of winter- it gets dark much earlier now..."

"That has nothing to do with anything, Daddy, and you know it doesn't. It's good to try new things, anyway. Isn't independence a good thing to learn?"

Eventually, Richard, Rachel's other father, intervened, and laid a hand on his partners arm.

"Darling , I think we're going to have to accept it sooner or later... she IS an adult now..."

Rachel beamed.


	2. Chapter 2

Of course, DECIDING you were going to London was one thing. Actually GETTING to London was something else.

Quinn had eventually worked her way around this by planning the train route online, using some of her Christmas Present money to buy her ticket, and begging Santana to inform the school office that she was "off sick" for the day.

Santana had laughed when Quinn asked her the first time.

"Seriously? Miss I'm-So-Perfect asking me to help her skive?"

"It's not skiving, San-"

"And what, to go on some stupid march with a bunch of hippies and communists and...and, like, crazy people and stuff?"

"You're so funny. In case i forget to say it later...lol."

"I'm serious, Quinn! Don't you KNOW what kind of people go on those marches?"

"Um...people who CARE about their futures? People who are too honest to get jobs in politics? Students?"

"Freaks, Quinn! Seriously! Lesbians and communists, and people who don't want to work, and just expect the goverment to pay for their education!"

"Ok, now you're sounding like your Dad..."

"He's right, though."

"San, he AND the goverment ALL went to University for FREE! Why is it the second we ask for what they had, we get called lazy?"

"Things were different then!"

Quinn paused, feeling an argument too big to take back in the air.

"San...I'm sorry. But it's true. I don't expect to go to University for free, ok? I just want to make sure we get charged amounts that EVERYONE can afford. And no one can afford £9000."

"You know, most marchers don't even understand what they're marching about, you know-"

"How do you mean?"

"Come on, you know we don't even pay back the loan until we're earning, right?"

"Meanwhile, it's gathering plenty of interest in the bank..."

"It's no big deal. Everyone would know that if they just took a second to think, you know."

"Maybe you don't think £27000 of debt is a lot, but I do. And so do all the other students."

"Like who? Who here REALLY cares, apart from you? I mean, who's even going with you?"

"No one." It was funny how the sting didn't fade, even when you said it quietly.

"Then why-"

"Because, in other places, people DO care." Quinn swung her school bag over her shoulder and stood up from the picnic table resolutely. " And I think i need to find out those people..."

Santana stared after her, as Quinn walked across the field and into school, and Brittany looked up from Santanas phone, where she had taken a break from an intense sexting session with an unaware Puck, who was under the impression he was talking to Santana.

"San, where's Quinn going?"

Santana shrugged. "I think she thinks she's going to change the world or something..."

"Will she?"

Santana bit back a disloyal "NO!", and settled on shrugging again.

"Who knows, Brit?"

Huge love to angel-in-the-sky and xxxburi-chanxxx for their reviews, and general awesomeness =)


	3. AN

Discontinued!

I'm sorry, i'm so sorry, but i just couldn't make it work. I HAVE however transferred the storyline, because i felt it was too OCC for quinn and rachel, but fitted naomi and emily quite well.

So if you want to find out how naomi and emily from skins get on at the same protest...please go to "March" in my stories box. Yes, im sorry, i couldn't think of a new title.

Love and peace, people :)


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